Prof Durmic, who was her supervisor, says although animals were known to graze on about 600 native species, they chose it because other Eremophila species had been used for traditional Aboriginal medicines.

They subjected parts of the plant to simple experiments with a test tube.

“We mix it with rumen fluid from donor animals,” she says.

“In a way we are mimicking what happens in the animal gut without actually using the animal.

“Then we ferment it.

“We measure the production of gasses during that fermentation.”

As preliminary examination proved Eremophila to be a potent methane production inhibitor, they decided to test it in what Prof Durmic calls an “artificial sheep”.

“We move them into this artificial sheep which is basically a set of fermenters,” she says.

These are replenished daily with rumen, and each fermenter is “fed” with a different ratio of Eremophila and oaten chaff.

They chose the latter because it is often fed to sheep in regions where Eremophila glabra grows.

Varying proportions of Eremophila resulted in between 32 and 45 per cent less methane than the control.

Ms Li is now writing another paper about her further in vivo trials, after she successfully fed the mixture to live sheep.